1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to disc and disc player for displaying a picture information and, more particularly, is directed to a disc and disc reproducing apparatus suitably applied to a CD-I (CD-interactive media) disc and a CD-I disc player or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
CD-I (CD-interactive media) systems have been proposed so far to record video data (natural picture, animation, computer graphics, etc.), text data, program data or the like in addition to audio data on a CD (compact disc) and which can be operated in an interactive fashion. Since the CD-I system has a playback function for playing back characters, video data, audio data, computer data and so on, it can be utilized in AV (audio visual) consumer appliances based on audio visual field, electronic edition based on characters, data base services based on information file, education and amusement based on interactive and answer system or the like. Therefore, the CD-I system is expected as new media.
For the CD-I system, various specifications are decided so that it can maintain compatibility with other appliances and that it can be widely utilized at home. More specifically, the CD-I system employs a 68000 system (Motorola) 16-bit microprocessor as a CPU (central processing unit), and CD-RTOS (compact disc real-time operating system) based on the existing OS-9 is employed as a real time operating system for handling a variety of files. Furthermore, two trigger buttons and X-Y pointing devices are employed as an input device and audio and video systems are prepared as an output system. In addition, the CD-I player is designed so as to reproduce, in addition to the CD-I disc, a compact disc (CD-DA) on which normal music data (CD-DA) are recorded. Further, upon playback of this CD-I disc, for example, image data (referred to as a control panel) indicating operation keys such as stop, play/pause, AMS (auto music scan) or the like and other image data are respectively read out from the CD-I disc and displayed on an LCD (liquid crystal display) device provided on the CD-I player.
In the disc such as CD-I and the CD-I player, when the CD-DA is reproduced, only image data associated with the operation keys for reproducing audio data are displayed on the LCD display provided as a display unit but image data such as picture, words or the like cannot be sequentially displayed thereon.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved disc and disc player in which the aforesaid shortcomings and disadvantages encountered with the prior art cannot be eliminated.
More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disc and disc player in which image such as pictures, words or the like can be sequentially displayed even when a CD-DA area is reproduced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disc and disc player in which, when image data indicative of operation keys such as stop, play/pause, AMS (auto music scan) or the like is displayed on an LCD display, image data such as pictures, words or the like can be displayed without being deteriorated from a visual standpoint.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a disc and disc reproducing apparatus in which image data to be displayed can be fully displayed and a displayed form of functions of operation keys can be changed.
As a first aspect, the present invention is directed to a disc on which at least audio data such as sound, music or the like and image data such as pictures, characters or the like are recorded. This disc has recorded thereon program data used to read out image data and program data used to select the image data read-out when the audio data is reproduced and which is sequentially displayed on display means provided in a reproducing apparatus. This disc has further recorded thereon operation image data for displaying a control panel having a plurality of operation keys for selecting the audio data or for operating the playback of the audio data on the display means of the reproducing apparatus and program data for displaying the operation image data on the display means together with the image data. The disc of the present invention has further recorded thereon program data for displaying the image data in the form of compressed data when the operation image data is displayed on the display means together with the image data.
As a second aspect, the present invention is directed to a disc reproducing apparatus for reproducing a disc on which at least audio data such as sound, music or the like and image data such as pictures, characters or the like are recorded. This disc reproducing apparatus is comprised of a reproducing means for reproducing audio data recorded on the disc, a memory means for writing therein image data recorded on the disc, a video signal generating means for generating a video signal on the basis of image data stored in the memory means, a display means supplied with the video signal and displaying thereon the image data, and an image processing means for writing the image data on the memory means when the audio data is reproduced and selecting the image data written so that selected image data is sequentially displayed on the display means. The disc reproducing apparatus of this invention further includes means for writing from the disc operation image data for displaying a control panel having a plurality of operation keys used to select the audio data or to operate the reproduction of the audio data in the memory means, reading out the written operation data together with the image data and displaying the control panel on the display means together with the image data. This disc reproducing apparatus further includes means for displaying the contents of operation functions corresponding to the respective operation keys of the control panel at least in two forms and selecting the forms, means for compressing the image data by selecting and throwing away pixels of the image data and means for displaying the compressed image data on a display screen of the display means together with the control panel. This disc reproducing apparatus further includes means for selecting a position at which the control panel is displayed on the display screen of the display means.
In accordance with a third aspect, the present invention is directed to a disc reproducing apparatus for reproducing a disc on which at least audio data such as sound, music or the like and image data such as pictures, characters or the like are recorded. This disc reproducing apparatus comprises a memory means for writing image data recorded on the disc, means for compressing the image data stored in the memory means by selecting and throwing away pixels of the image data and writing the compressed image data on the memory means, a display means supplied with a video signal generated on the basis of the compressed image data and displaying the compressed image data, means for writing from the disc operation image data for displaying a control panel having a plurality of operation keys used to select the image data or to operate the reproduction of the image data data in the memory means, and reading out the written operation data together with the compressed image data, and means for displaying the control panel generated by the operation image data on a display screen of the display means together with the compressed image data. This disc reproducing further includes means for displaying contents of operation functions of respective operation keys of the control panel at least in two forms and selecting these forms. This disc reproducing apparatus further includes means for selecting a position at which the control panel is displayed on the display screen of the display means. Therefore, the image data such as pictures, words or the like are sequentially displayed, the control panel also is displayed and displayed forms of the functions of the operation keys in the control panel can be changed, which can make the disc reproducing apparatus more useful.